


Natt

by yeaka



Category: Red Riding Hood (2011)
Genre: F/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 11:42:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20865638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: A moment in bed.





	Natt

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Red Riding Hood or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

He smells her before he sees her—waking from a dream, he inhales deeply, and the floral mix of petals she uses in her bathwater floods in to remind him just how _lucky_ he is. Then Peter squints his eyes open, and in the moonlight through the curtains, he sees her sleeping face. She’s rolled over since they finished—when he nodded off, she was wrapped up in his arms, facing the other way, his chin buried in her golden hair. Now he can see her long lashes down against her velvet cheeks, her red lips slightly parted. For a long moment, Peter just _looks_ at her. Even still and quiet, her beauty is mesmerizing. Valerie has always been the most gorgeous thing he’s ever seen. 

And now she’s lying next to him, the two of them bundled up in bed together, the blankets drawn high to hide their nakedness. He can still feel her fingers on his skin, the bruises in his back, the grooves where her teeth dug into his shoulder. Their bodies have dried, but the sheets haven’t completely. It’s everything he ever wanted. 

Almost.

He didn’t want to be a monster. He wanted to give her anything and everything that she deserved—was even willing to give her _up_ at one point, to let her marry a man who couldn’t possibly love her as much as Peter does. He should’ve known that would never work. Valerie’s been loyal to a fault, even now, when she knows exactly what he is. 

It isn’t lost on him that she sleeps next to him anyway. She’s at her most vulnerable. That trust means more to him than she could ever know. 

When her eyes flicker open, he can’t help closing the space between them. He shuffles over, shifting beneath the sheets, and pecks her on her nose. She smiles tiredly at him and breathes a pleasant, “Morning.”

It isn’t morning. The stars are still out. But he doesn’t have the will to defy her, so he answers, “Good morning.”

She closes her eyes and lets out a huff of breath, then a yawn. She murmurs, “I’m going back to sleep.”

“I’ll guard you,” he jokes. Her grin stretches wider. He kisses her on it, but she wriggles her hand over to his chest and gives him a little shove.

“Don’t; you’ll get me going.”

That’s exactly what he wants. But he acquiesces, “Sorry.”

Chuckling, she rolls over. That takes some of the temptation away, but not all of it. 

He sidles up against her back, wraps his thick arms around her waist, and glues them back together. She sighs happily and doesn’t stop him, but she does order, “Behave.”

He promises, “I will.”

For Valerie, he keeps that promise. He watches her as she drifts back to sleep, and he keeps her safe until the morning; he’s already vowed to do so for the rest of her long life.


End file.
